The following study analyses the role that the Amfiteatru phenomenon played in the construction of the so-called „generation 80”. Everyone agrees that the birth date of this poetical generation was the early spring of 1977, when the literary circle Cenaclul de Luni had its first meeting. But few years before that moment, when most of these young writers were students, this magazine (i.e. Amfiteatru) encouraged them to write their own poetry, deeply different from the poetry of their forerunners. Besides, the periodical was conceived as an intellectual nursery: edited by U.A.S.C.R. (The Union of the Associations of the Communist Students of Romania), Amfiteatru favored the undergraduate authors. Nowadays, it may seem normal, but in the dictatorial regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, it was a downright opportunity.